Denmark Open: Badminton player Sindhu eyes return with victory

Two-time Olympic medalist and reigning world champion PV Sindhu will aim to start on a winning note when she returns to the court after a break at the Denmark Open World Tour Super 1000 badminton tournament, starting on Tuesday.

Sindhu took a break after winning the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Now she will be eager to make a good start in the BWF World Tour starting after the suspension in the Corona epidemic.

London Olympics bronze medalist Saina Nehwal will also make a comeback after recovering from a groin injury. He had to retire from the first match of the Uber Cup finals last week due to injury.

Fourth seed Sindhu will face Turkey’s Neslihan Yigit in the first match, while Saina will play Japan’s Aya Ohori.

Sindhu, the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist, is likely to play Thailand’s Busanan Ongamrugphan in the second round, winning which could set up a clash with fifth seed Korean Un Seong.

All eyes will also be on Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. The seventh seeded Indian pair will play England’s Callum Hemming and Steven Stallwood in the first round. Both had won all four matches in the Thomas Cup final in Denmark.

In men’s singles, Lakshya Sen will take on compatriot Saurabh Verma in the first round. Lakshya could not make it to the Indian team for Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup. He was ruled out after losing his only match in the trials but bounced back by finishing runner-up at the Dutch Open on Sunday.

Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth did not perform well in the Sudirman Cup and Thomas Cup finals. They will play each other in the first round. The winner will face world number one Kento Momota of Japan in the next round. Sameer Verma will take on Kunlavut Witidsarn of Thailand while SH Prannoy will take on Jonathan Christie of Indonesia in the first round.

Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap will face fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.

Women’s doubles will feature N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa and Meghana Jakkampudi and S Ram Poorvisha. In mixed doubles, Ponnappa and Satwik will take on China’s Feng Yan Zhe and Du Yue in the first round.